From Negative Gamers To Two Big Teases - News Roundup 3rd February 2011

Treyarch : "Negative" Gamers Are Holding Back Development

The games industry faces many issues despite the major profits that development generates... but according to Treyarch, recycled titles and buggy coding aren't the major problem. We are. Speaking in an interview with NowGamer, Treyarch community manager Josh Olin states that gamers with "negative" attitudes are holding back games development.

Too many developers who try new things are getting burned by “pundits” and angry entitled fans who look to be contrarian, sometimes simply for the sake of being contrarian.

The only thing this attitude aims to achieve is stunt that creativity and innovation even further, which is something that no rational gamer looking to be entertained would want to do.

Treyarch has also been receiving a huge amount of flak regarding Call Of Duty: Black Ops' PS3 performance. Maybe we're just being too "negative?" [NowGamer]

Right, you know that you want to weigh in on this one. Do us gamers have an attitude problem? Are we holding back development? Or is the giving us plenty to moan about? Have your say in the comments!

New NGP Trailer Delivers The Goods

Cor blimey, wow and so on. Sony has released a new trailer for its recently-unveiled NGP handheld that shows off some of the games that will be hitting the platform- and it's enough to make even this jaded gamer reel his tongue back in. Killzone, Uncharted and Resistance look absolutely stunning, but several newly-unveiled IPs are also shaping up nicely. Insane parkour platformer Gravity Daze will be one to watch.

Seriously, hit play already. And ignore the terrible preppy music.

The NGP has met an extremely mixed reception from pundits, journalists and gamers alike, but there's no denying that it's shaping up to be a stonking piece of hardware with some killer games. You can read our reactions to the device here.

Saints Row 3: "Big Announcement Coming Soon"

THQ Executive VP Danny Bilson has confirmed to VG247 that a "big" Saints Row 3 announcement will be "coming soon." We expected that the third entry in the anarchic sandbox franchise make would be unveiled last year, but after nary a peep from THQ on the subject, we're delighted to hear that we'll soon be in for some concrete intel. Since the Q3 investor's call is set for later tonight, the smart money is on at least a mention.

EA Hints At "Exciting" New FPS

Here's another teaser for you. During today's quarterly investor's call, EA boss John Riccitiello dropped a few hints about a potentially new and "exciting" FPS title that will be announced this year. When questioned about the future of the Medal Of Honor franchise, Riccitiello delivered the following cryptic response:

This year, with the tail-end of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 still doing well and Medal of Honor still doing well... with Crysis and Bulletstorm we're clearly going to make more progress towards our goal and that's before we get to what I think is going to be a very exciting entry later in the year that we're not yet announcing.

Before you get too excited, this "exciting entry" could well turn out to be a Battlefield 3 or a new addition to the MoH franchise. Here's hoping for a new IP- possibly from Respawn Entertainment. [EG]

I don't think Treyarch are in any position to criticise fans for stunting creativity whilst they are involved with one of the most generic, formulaic FPS titles on the market.

They say fans are responsible for developers not being creative? maybe they should try showing some creativity in that case and see if their opinions are right, because so far they've shown none at all.

I'm sorry whos the consumer here? If something isn't up to par people are going to say it isn't. If treyarch don't like that then perhaps they should shut up and make a game that isn't a generic copy of the stuff that came before it and actually works on more than one platform? Treyarch must have been drinking from the fountain of ego bobby kotick has.

I think Sony have made a big misstep with the NGP. People just aren't interested in a powerful handheld console anymore - gamers will compare it negatively to their home console of choice, while those looking for portable fun will turn to their mobile phones.

The trend in recent years has been towards one "does it all" device - look at modern smartphones, that feature calling, email, web browsing, multimedia, and - yes - gaming. By releasing a handheld that focusses on just one of these things (and one that has neither the wow factor nor family-friendly appeal of the 3DS) Sony are making the NGP dig it's own grave.

The NGP will certainly face stiff competition- and there's definitely a case to be made that there isn't a significant market for it. Still, plenty can happen in a year.

As for Pachter, however, it's worth noting that he's currently an outspoken supporter of the NGP despite his earlier prediction. To be quite honest, I'd take anything the man says with a major pinch of salt (or just ignore it completely).

I think Sony are right to stick with their high end hardware, that's what they are known for and do well at it, the PSP is hardly a failure at over 60 million units.
I think having a handheld as powerful as a console is a fantastic thing, being able to play the same game on either the NGP or PS3 would really interest me, even if I was just playing it in another room because someone was using the TV!
The NGP is a serious challenger to the iPhone, it can handle the small games and the big ones and it has actual controls and buttons, Sony listened and gave gamers a 2nd analog stick but they also threw in a bunch of other tech. I originally wasn't that interested in a PSP2 but after seeing what the NGP can do and the specs, sign me up day 1.